Book Chat: Science Fiction
By Elizabeth
Parker
Looking back at the
books I've reviewed previously, you would never know that my
favorite form of fiction is Science Fiction. Science Fiction
is the first section I check on trips to the bookstore, and
was my first love in reading as a child. But unfortunately
for this column's purposes, many of you are also Sci-Fi
buffs, with the consequence that most of these books are
already well-known in the community, as exemplified in the Gender Change
Fiction List and the Science Fiction Gender Swapping
List. The former is a very well-run web site, updated
around once a quarter, and covers gender changes
(exclusively) in books, movies, comics, games and television.
The latter is a text document which exists on an ftp site. It
contains references in all of the above media to gender
transformations, including crossdressing, in spite of the
name. However, it has not been updated since I first found
it. Consequently, because of my desire to introduce new works
of fiction into our community, I've had to ignore Science
Fiction. Recently though, I've come across several new
Science Fiction books.
"Polymorph", by Scott
Westerfield, concerns a young woman named Lee, who has the
ability to shange her shape into any other human being at
will. This is a talent she developed and believes is unique.
She uses it to go club-hopping in New York City, in a
different identity each night, sometimes male, mostly female.
Consequently she never becomes close to anyone. Soon she
discovers that she is not unique in her ability when she
encounters Bonito, an originally male polymorph who has
nefarious designs on controlling this futuristic world. She
first meets Bonito when he is Bonita, a striking Italian
beauty. They flirt, then Lee recognizes Bonita as a fellow
polymorph, due to subtle physical changes she observes. As
they talk, it comes out that Bonito likes to
"doppelgang" people. This surprises Lee, who has
never realized this was a possibility for her. They have a
very erotic sexual encounter, highlighted by strategic body
transformations. Later, Lee hooks up with
Freddie, a previous conquest, to help her hack into
computerized records to find Bonito. They become lovers
again, and Freddie becomes the first person Lee has ever been
close to. Of course, she eventually has to reveal her talent
to Freddie, and he finds himself perversely attracted to the
possibilities. He helps her find and fight Bonito. Along the
way they have some very interesting and perverse sex,
including Lee developing male parts. One
of the hallmarks of this book, is the intense sexuality. From
Lee's friendly dominance of Freddie, to Bonito's
impersonation of celebrities' wives, for gaining disguised
sexual encounters, sex is an important tool in the plot and
weapon in the hands of Bonito. Many of the themes are the
same ones which we enjoy so much in our community's
fiction. Westerfield has a new book,
Fine Prey, coming out in 1998.
The next
book, "The Miracle Strain", by
Michael Cordy, is not strictly a Science Fiction book. You
can find it in the thriller section of your bookstore.
However according to my definition it also falls into the
Science Fiction genre. Taking place in the near future, it
concerns a DNA research company and its owner, Dr. Tom
Carter. He has just earned a Nobel Prize for his pioneering
work in mapping DNA and applying that knowledge in practical
ways. As the book opens, his wife is gunned down by a
fanatical assassin, Nemesis. Nemesis is a fervent Christian,
who works for a 2,000-year old secret organization, The
Brotherhood. This organization is committed to finding the
new Messiah and killing those who blaspheme. Dr. Carter has
become a target because his gene research is verging upon
God's territory, much like the current day controversy over
cloning humans (I never thought I'd say "cloning"
and "current day" in the same breath!).
Nemesis is a young woman who was rescued from a life of
sexual abuse in a convent, and trained by the Brotherhood to
carry out their missions against the blasphemers of the
world. As part of her preparation, she has had cosmetic
surgery performed to make her more believable as a male. For
most of her missions she disguises herself as a man, even
spending some of her off hours as a male. But she is still
able to revert to her woman's identity easily, doubling her
disguise potential. Nemesis is quite offended by Dr. Carter's
blasphemous activities and is particularly irked when she
fails to kill him also, the first time she has ever failed.
This creates a problem when the Brotherhood decides
to support Dr. Carter rather than kill him. In an effort to
cure his daughter of a deadly disease, he is lead to develop
a genetic treatment based upon Jesus' genes. For their own
reasons, the Brotherhood decides this is a worthy goal. The
efforts of Dr. Carter and his team to locate a valid sample
of Jesus' DNA are quite interesting and thought provoking,
especially as this technology is so close to that of our
present day world's. Now this book will primarily be
of interest to those with FTM inclinations. However I found
it to be quite an effective thriller, spiced up by Nemesis'
disguises. The latter third of the book was somewhat
unbelievable and makes use of too many ironic coincidences,
but I still quite enjoyed the tale.
As a bonus,
let me tell you about a fabulous short story I ran across in
"Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex".
It is "The Future Of Birds", by
Mike O'Driscoll. It takes place in a future where women
contract a disease similar to AIDS, sharply reducing their
numbers. To take their place, rich patrons sponsor
organizations which look for likely candidates for
transsexual surgery. This story is about one of those
candidates, Estela, a male prostitute from Brazil. As he
struggles to make his living on the street, he discovers he
can double his take by dressing as a girl. Naturally he falls
into the company of other transvestite prostitutes, including
Cledilce, his lover. Cledilce introduces him to a more
upscale clientele, culminating in the organization which
gives him his surgery and a second career as a
performer/prostitute at a Berlin nightclub. Estela's feelings
and life-style are discussed extensively. The story is quite
lengthy, and written well. If you
have run across any good Science Fiction Books, just email me. If you ask,
I'll add you to my list for notification of books which I
find, but will not cover in this column. These are typically
books with less of a transgender plot, sometimes just several
paragraphs, but worth knowing about nevertheless. Bibliography Cordy, Michael, "The Miracle Strain",
William Morrow & Company, September 1997, ISBN:
0688155081 (Hardback) Datlow, Ellen,
"Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex", St. Martins,
February 1996, ISBN: 0312140193 (Hardback) Datlow, Ellen, "Off Limits: Tales of Alien
Sex", Ace Books, April 1997, ISBN: 0441004369
(Paperback) Westerfield, Scott,
"Polymorph", Roc, December 1997, ISBN:
0-451-45660-2 (Paperback)
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